The Social Construction of Transgenic Corn: Relevant Social Actors in Chihuahua

According to the socio-technical perspective, the meaning of a technological artefact does not lie within the artefact itself. Analyzing transgenic corn from a socio-technical perspective means taking one’s research beyond the artefact itself. To do this, it is necessary to overcome and avoid determ...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Fernández Nava, Marco Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:Ecuador
Institución:Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Repositorio:Revista ICONOS
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec:article/1740
Acceso en línea:https://iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec/index.php/iconos/article/view/1740
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Milho transgênico
construção social
grupos sociais relevantes
controvérsia
poder semiótico.
Transgenic corn
social construction
relevant social actors
controversy
semiotic power.
Maíz transgénico
construcción social
grupos sociales relevantes
controversia
Descripción
Sumario:According to the socio-technical perspective, the meaning of a technological artefact does not lie within the artefact itself. Analyzing transgenic corn from a socio-technical perspective means taking one’s research beyond the artefact itself. To do this, it is necessary to overcome and avoid determinist positions, be they social or technological. This work takes as it point of departure the Social Construction of Technology Focus (SCOT). In this sense, transgenic corn is an unfinished object that is affected by an onslaught of struggles, opinions, agreements, disagreements, designs and redefinitions of the relevant social actors. These groups, the Democratic Campesino Front, El Barzón, National Agro-dynamic and Regional Agricultural Union of Yellow Corn Producers (UNIPRO), demonstrate how technological development is a social process. The deconstruction of transgenic corn according to the perspectives of these different social actors is key to the process of constructivist analysis: to take the artefacts just as each social actor views them. The objective of this study then is to describe how the different social groups, through their actions, construct and deconstruct the meaning of transgenic corn in Chihuahua, Mexico.